Inability to win the close games did not affect Taiwan Beer on Sunday as it edged past the Yulon Dinos in a thrilling 86-83 win at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium for a share of the lead with the Dinos in the Super Basketball League standings.
The beer crew had a dismal 1-4 record prior to Sunday's triumph in games that had been decided by three or fewer points, and seemed doomed to drop another heartbreaker late in the game on Sunday when the Dinos were ready to make a would-be game-tying three-pointer on their final possession of the game. But back-to-back misses by the Dinos' Chou Shih-yuan and Lee Hsueh-lin with time expiring ultimately netted Taiwan Beer its biggest win of the season thus far.
Behind the solid shooting of the beermen's Lin "The Beast" Chih-jeh and utility man Ho Sho-cheng and the Dinos reserve center Wei Yong-tai, the top two squads in the league played toe-to-toe in a 46-all deadlock during the first half.
PHOTO COURTESY SBL
It took a 10-3 run by the Dinos midway through the third quarter to help the defending champs build an eight-point lead heading into the final quarter of the game.
Impatience by the Dinos that resulted in several poor shot selections, coupled with some clutch baskets by Taiwan Beer's Lin and guard Hsu Hao-cheng (with two strong drives to the hoop against the Dinos' all-star center Tseng Wen-ding) in the game-deciding fourth quarter finally gave the men in green the final laugh.
Lin led all scorers with 27 points for Taiwan Beer, followed by point man Chen Shih-nian's sweet 16 and Ho and center Ha Hsiao-yuan's 11 apiece to round out the double-digit scorers.
As for the Dinos, Tseng's season-high 25 points and 18 rebounds were not enough to produce a win as his supporting cast fell short in a rare loss for the defending champs.
YMY 80, Antelopes 89
A stellar performance by the ETTV Antelopes' Yang Yu-ming and Wu Jia-long on a combined 55-point night, helped the Antelopes defeat YMY in an 89-80 decision to extend YMY's record-setting losing streak to 15 and counting.
Veteran guard Luo "The Natural" Hsin-liang's 4-for-9 shooting from behind the three-point line on a 28-point effort and rookie power forward Chien Jia-hong's 23-point outing kept YMY from being blown out by the Antelopes in a game that was never too close.
Yang's 35 points in the game marked a new season-high for the sharp shooter, topping his previous mark of 34 that was set on February 5th, an encouraging sign for the Antelopes and bad news for their opponents in the games to come.
Hunters 89, Bank of Taiwan 78
Yang Tseh-yi's monstrous 31-point, 13-rebound night pave the way to victory for the Videoland Hunters in a 89-78 win over the Bank of Taiwan to conclude the All-Star weekend's play.
The win avenged two earlier losses to the bankers for Videoland as they ascended one spot in the latest standings for a share of the fourth-place spot with the Bank of Taiwan.
The Hunters' 31-point third quarter was the difference in the game as they stretched a five-point, halftime lead (44-39) into a comfortable 20 plus-point margin, a cushion proved too much for the bankers to overcome in the final quarter.
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